The word "zhou" in the oracle bone inscriptions did not originally contain the word "口". It only represents well-defined farmland, which evolved into what it is today.
The early "Zhou" character "Shuowen Jiezi" explains it this way: "Zhou is secret. It comes from usage and oral." Duan Yucai of the Qing Dynasty explained it in "Shuowen Jiezi Annotation" as : "Secret, Shanbu said that the mountain is like a hall, and the extended training is Zhouzhi." It means thorough and complete.
The earliest word "Zhou" appears in the inscriptions unearthed in Yin Ruins and Zhouyuan. Regarding the interpretation of "Zhou" in oracle bone inscriptions and bronze inscriptions, Zhang Rituo said: "The mouth is like the field boundary around it, and there are roads in it. "Zongheng" means "planted in the field", Tian refers to the place where it is planted, and "圄" refers to the surrounding areas. The two refer to different things, but the meaning is close. Therefore, in "Chengzhou Ge", the word "zhou" means "field". The word "zhou" refers to a well-defined farmland, which is full of crops. With this kind of farmland crisscrossing the fields, China has been an agricultural country since ancient times, and people have known about planting various crops from a long time ago. The activity center of the early Zhou people was in the Zhouyuan area, which was a plain area.
Due to the dense crops planted in the criss-crossing farmland, the word "zhou" was interpreted as "dense" and "thorough".
Due to the addition of "口" when writing "zhou", later people added another meaning to the interpretation of "zhou". Indicates the origin of national decrees.
In oracle bone inscriptions and bronze inscriptions, "Zhou" already appears on inscriptions and bronzes as a country, rather than as a piece of farmland. This is related to the agricultural production and migration activities of the ancestors of the Zhou Dynasty.